Wednesday Clutter: Michael Cohen, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Boston Red Sox, NFL Notes, Reese Witherspoon, Brat Pack, Only Murders in the Building, Young Sheldon, Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, and more
05/15/2024
Hi everyone,
How are you? Our crew is a little tired because last night's Red Sox game went into extra innings. However, other than that, things are going okay at the moment. BDH and Little Buddha are working on today's to-do list. They said they might make it a little short today, because the rest of the week will get crazy again. A brief pause wouldn't hurt, guys.
Of course, the big item on the schedule is the new "One Chicago" shows tonight. I think the season finales are next week, so we need to get our fix while we still can. In the meantime, 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 Wednesday Clutter.
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Donald Trump's lawyers tried to discredit former fixer Michael Cohen during Trump's hush money trial yesterday. They launched unprofessional personal attacks and did everything to make Cohen seem like an awful human being. However, Cohen held his ground. Whatever jurors might think of him personally, nothing changes the fact that his testimony eviscerated Trump's defense.
Michael Cohen has repeatedly made his loathing of his former boss/hero clear. However, that doesn't alter the reality that Cohen met with Trump about the payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and another woman to keep them quiet during the 2016 presidential campaign about their sexual encounters with the Great Pumpkin. Once that was done, he was part of the plan to hide the nature of the payments. Cohen was right in the center of this story, and he's happy to talk about it.
Michael Cohen is expected to be on the stand again on Thursday, and it sounds like the prosecution is ready to rest its case after he's done. Donald Trump still has the option to speak in his own defense if he so chooses. However, someone might have to wake him up first.
Michael Cohen is making the prosecution's case in Donald Trump's hush money trial. (pic via southernillinoisnow.com)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson wants to make sure everyone knows he's a loyal Trump patsy: Johnson stood outside of the courthouse at Donald Trump's hush money trial and called the U.S. judicial system "corrupt." This guy is second in line for the presidency, and he apparently hates our country's government as much as his master. The GOP's contempt for America is palpable. They've all got to be removed from office for our democracy to have any chance of survival.
Congratulations to Angela Alsobrooks on winning Maryland's Democratic Senate primary yesterday. She defeated Rep. David Trone, who loaned his campaign over $60 million. (Anyone who can spend that much money on their own campaign deserves to lose.) Alsobooks will now face former Governor Larry Hogan in a race that could well decide the control of the U.S. Senate in November. Republicans can't be allowed to to hijack the federal judicial nomination process again. Send Alsobrooks to Washington to make sure that doesn't happen, because we'd all have to live with the latest repercussions of GOP corruption for years to come.
The latest consumer price index data comes out later today, and investors will be scouring it for an indication about the future of interest rates.
BDH and Little Buddha congratulate all of the winners at yesterday's Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. BDH wants to enter the competition next year, but we can't figure out the right category for him.
The Boston Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 in 12 innings last night. This was a crazy game. It immediately got off to a bad start when Boston's Nick Pivetta gave up a solo home run in the top of the first inning. However, Pivetta eventually settled down for the night (two runs and four hits in 5 2/3 innings), and the Sox offense came alive to take a 3-1 lead. However, Tampa Bay came back to tie the game in the sixth. There were miscues on both sides, but Boston's Romy Gonzalez finally ended the game with a walk-off single in the 12th.
The Red Sox showed heart with this win against a tough opponent who usually has their number. Now, it's up to Tanner Houck to try to keep the momentum going when he takes the mound against the Rays tonight.
Tom Brady now says he regrets doing his recent roast on Netflix because it negatively impacted his kids. It's hard to believe someone as obsessed with being the best at everything he does seemingly had no idea what a roast was when he signed up for the project.
Kirk Cousins doesn't want to discuss if he still would have signed with the Atlanta Falcons had he known the team intended to draft quarterback Michael Penix Jr. this year. Cousins is saying all the right things and praising Penix Jr. while talking about competition. However, you know this will probably get messy at some point this season. There's no way the Falcons are going to keep the 24-year-old Penix Jr. on the bench for the four years of Cousins' contract. Should we start the over/under on how long Cousins stays with the team? Let's start it at 1.5 seasons.
The New York Jets reportedly tried to replace offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett this off-season, but they apparently they couldn't find anyone to take the job. Hackett was hired to make buddy Aaron Rodgers happy, and of course that plan was derailed when Rodgers was injured on the first drive of the season last year. Maybe things will be better this season if Rodgers can stay healthy, but we can see this getting ugly again if the Jets get off to a slow start. That would be a shame.
Our condolences to the people of Jacksonville, Florida on the news that local officials have agreed to contribute $775 million to a new stadium for the Jaguars. What a terrible use of public resources, as well as a prime example of corporate welfare. Team owner Shad Khan is worth $12.2 billion, and the franchise is worth $4 billion. Let the Jaguars pay for their own stadium.
A Legally Blonde prequel is coming to Amazon Prime Video. We'll probably give that a look at some point. It might depend a little bit on the cast, but we enjoyed the movies, so, sure, why not? Give us more Elle Woods, please.
Hold up, that's not all we have for Reese Witherspoon-related news: She and Will Farrell have a new movie called, You're Cordially Invited, which will also premiere on Amazon Prime Video, on January 30, 2025. We love Witherspoon, but this looks like a film where we'll be happy to be able to just turn off the TV if we don't like it. What do you think?
Andrew McCarthy's documentary about the "Brat Pack" actors of the 1980's will debut on Hulu on June 13. We sort of forgot about this one, because we didn't have Hulu when we first heard about it. Now? Sign us up. We loved watching that crew "back in the day" and hearing about all of their exploits. They were so huge back then, we assumed they'd always rule Hollywood. However, that's not how things turned out, and it should be interesting to hear their thoughts about what happened.
It turns out that the bad guys in this year's season of Doctor Who aren't actually new characters. We didn't know much about them before the recent run of episodes, so this is still fresh ground for us, and we're loving it so far.
We've got the first teaser trailer for the new season of Only Murders in the Building, which starts on Hulu on August 27! Friends, this show alone made subscribing to Hulu worthwhile. The stars have terrific chemistry, the supporting cast has been wonderful (including all of the celebrity cameos), and the mystery always has a few fun twists and turns before you finally reach the conclusion. We can't wait for more:
We also have clip of the upcoming Jim Parsons/Mayim Balik cameo on the Young Sheldon series finale. It looks like we were right about the point of this show. Still curious to see how they handle the fallout from George Cooper's death while not ending the sitcom on a depressing note. Guess we'll find out tomorrow night:
Former Nickelodeon star Lori Beth Denberg recounted multiple incidents of producer/writer Dan Schneider preying on her as a minor, and all Schneider can say is that the claims are "wildly exaggerated and mostly false." It's wrong that Schneider seems to be escaping any kind of actual accountability for his actions over the years.
There's a Bruce Springsteen documentary coming to Disney+ and Hulu this October. It will focus on Springsteen's current world tour, and we're sure it will be a blast. That will be something to keep us busy for a bit while we wait for the Doctor Who Christmas special to hit Disney+.
Okay kids, that's going to do it for now. Here's Taylor Swift to close things out with a live version of, "Blank Space" for today's, "Song of the Day."
Thanks for stopping by, folks. It was great to see you, as always. BDH and Little Buddha say you're welcome to come back tonight if you want to watch some "One Chicago" with them. Otherwise, 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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