Hi folks,

How are you?  We're going to need your patience today, friends.  Something came up yesterday, and long story short, there was little sleep, and I have a headache.  BDH and Little Buddha have set aside the to-do list for the time being, and we'll come back to it when we can.

Our crew would still love to check out the headlines with you, though, so let's give that a shot.  The guys made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium (or maybe large) 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!

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito still refuses to recuse himself from any January 6-related cases, despite the recent stories about pro-insurrection flags flying outside his homes after the 2020 presidential election.  In fact, Justice Alito can't imagine why anyone would even think he should consider taking such a step, because, you know, the court's non-binding code of ethics is enough to make sure that nothing fishy is happening on the bench. No problem, right?  Nothing to see here.

Also, Justice Alito, the guy who wrote the majority decision overturning Roe v. Wade, said it was his wife's decision and right to hang up the flags, and who is he to tell her what to do?

Impeach the unethical fraud.  (pic via opb.org)

The NDA just expired for one of the former producers of The Apprentice, and Bill Pruit has plenty to say about the show and Donald Trump. 

Catalytic converter thefts are back in the news, following the recent murder of former General Hospital actor Johnny Wactor, who was killed this past weekend when he encountered thieves trying to remove his converter from his Toyota Prius.  Catalytic converters contain several precious metals, and they only take a few minutes at most to remove.  The penalties for getting caught are low, and cops don't pay much attention to these cases, so criminals across the country are willing to take their chances. 

We speak from experience, because the same thing happened to us a few years ago.  We were informed this kind of thing happens all the time, and it was clear we would never hear back from the police.  In hindsight, while the whole thing was a hassle, it was a good thing we never saw the people who did it.  According to the linked article, 153,000 catalytic converters have been stolen in the U.S. since 2022.  Unless new laws are passed to take this crime more seriously, there's no reason to think this problem will improve anytime soon.

McDonald's really wants you to think the 40% increase in their average price over the past five years is because of inflation, not corporate gouging.  However, as the linked article points out, average consumer prices have gone up 21% since December of 2019.

CNN.com is running a story with the headline, "Why the Dow Jones has fallen 1,000 points in the last three days."  The Clutter investment team isn't particularly interested in the actual article.  The staff wants to point out that 1,000 points is just about 2.6% of the Dow Jones, but that wouldn't make for nearly as scary of a headline. 

The Boston Red Sox lost 6-1 to the Baltimore Orioles last night, so there was no series win, which would have been huge for this team.  Boston starter Kutter Crawford gave up five runs in the second inning, including a grand slam.  He managed to settle down and last six innings, but the damage was already done, as the Sox offense couldn't do anything against Baltimore's pitchers. 

Next up:  The Red Sox start a new series at home against the Detroit Tigers tonight.  Nick Pivetta takes the mound for Boston.

The Boston Red Sox put outfielder Tyler O'Neill on the 10-day IL, due to right knee inflammation.  The team seems to be downplaying it, so hopefully this is no big deal.  O'Neill has had a number of injuries in recent years, and he seemed to struggle for much of May, so a cautious approach is warranted.

The Boston Globe has a glowing profile of new New England Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt.  The tone of the piece is a touch over-the-top, but still, we're trusting Van Pelt, new head coach Jerod Mayo, and the rest of Mayo's team, to get the Pats back on track this year.

Glenn Close is the latest addition to the cast of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, which reportedly starts filming next month.  We have no idea about the plot at the moment, but that's okay.  It will be a treat to see Daniel Craig return as Detective Benoit Blanc to solve another whodunit.

Captain Marvel star Brie Larson explained how and why she tries to help new additions to the MCU.  There are a lot of odd aspects about playing a superhero, so the actress does what she can to explain various logistics. 

The first full trailer for the upcoming season of The Bear has arrived.  It will be a huge win if our crew doesn't binge-watch the entire thing when it hits Hulu on June 27:

Last week's Doctor Who episode didn't feature much of the actual Time Lord, due to filming schedules, something which happens every so often.   Den of Geek took it upon themselves to rank the best of the Doctor-lite stories.  We agree with the #1 spot, but we'd probably re-0rder the rest of them.  In any case, while we're always a little disappointed to only get a glimpse of the Doctor in a given week, everything on the list is entertaining.

Daisy Jones & the Six star Camila Alvarez is reportedly joining the cast of The Night Manager.  We enjoyed Alvarez in Daisy Jones, so we're good with this call.  However, our biggest question about the returning series is, will we see Hugh Laurie again?  Things weren't looking good for his arms dealer character at the end of the first season.  However, we'd love to see him face off against Tom Hiddleston again.  Fingers crossed.

Jerry Seinfeld has moved to complaining about the lack of "dominant masculinity" in today's society.  It's hard to think of someone who less resembles the stereotype the comedian apparently longs for now.  It becomes less interesting by the day to hear what he has to say about anything.

The Days of our Lives soap opera films a remarkable seven months in advance.  That means the post-writers' strike storylines are only actually starting tomorrow.  We don't watch Days, but it's always fun to watch a soap in the first 5-10 days after a change in writers.  The stories, which usually move at a methodical pace, frequently make changes on a dime as the show adjusts to the new scripts.  It's an entertaining stretch of chaos you only get to see every few years.

Queen is reportedly negotiating to sell their music catalog to Sony Music for as much as $1 billion.  That sounds insane, but given the band's enduring popularity, we could see how it could be a good deal for Sony over the long-term.

Ozzy Osbourne and bassist Geezer Butler are apparently both up for the idea of one last Black Sabbath concert featuring the original line-up.  Will guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward join them?

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Here's The Offspring and Ed Sheeran teaming up on a live version of, "Million Miles Away" 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.