Hi everyone,

Welcome back, and a happy Friday to you all.  Where did this week go?  Yikes, that was fast.  What's on tap for the weekend?  I'm not really sure what our crew has on the agenda.  BDH and Little Buddha say there's a chance of rain, so I think they're working on two different to-do lists, depending on the weather.

I'll let them tell me what we're up to once they figure it out.  They always come up with the right plan.  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 Clutter.

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The Biden - Harris administration announced lower Medicare prices for 10 major drugs yesterday.  The savings, which go into effect in 2026, are the result of Medicare finally being able to negotiate as a whole with drug companies, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act. This kind of government action directly helps ordinary Americans, which is why the GOP hates it so much.  People shouldn't have to risk bankruptcy to protect their health.  This country should continue moving forward in this direction, not reverting back to a wannabe-dictator.

President Biden and Vice President Harris celebrated an important win in the fight to lower health care costs.  (pic via www.yahoo.com)

Meanwhile, Donald Trump subjected everyone to another rambling press conference yesterday.  Trump spent much of his time lashing out at Vice President Harris, because being beaten by a woman of color is giving him nightmares.  He insulted Harris' intelligence and lack of patriotism, because he's the king of projection.  Trump is melting down right in front of us while also reminding the world yet again that he's just not bright. Check out this quote from yesterday's event:

“Virtually 100% of the net job creation in the last year has gotten to migrants,” said Trump, “You know that? Most of the job creation has gone to migrants. In fact, I’ve heard that substantially more than — uh, beyond, actually beyond the number of 100%, it’s a much higher number than that, but the government hasn’t caught up with that yet, but virtually right now as of the time they did this virtually 100% of the net job creation in the last year has gone to migrants.”

Can someone please explain to the Republican presidential nominee that even a fourth-grader can understand this lie is mathematically impossible?  Put the man to bed, preferably behind bars.

It took him a little while to get there, but Senator JD Vance also agreed to a VP debate on CBS News on October 18.  We can only imagine how many weird comments about women he'll end up making in front of  a national audience.  Let's set the initial over/under at 20.5.  You should probably take the over.

It's good to see that Detroit Judge Kenneth King has been removed from the docket after his inappropriate response to a teenage student who fell asleep in his courtroom during a field trip.  Judge King berated the student, ordered her placed in handcuffs and an inmate's uniform, and threatened to send her to a juvenile detention facility.  It was a gross abuse of power just to protect a fragile ego.  The judge deserves to be disciplined for his behavior.

The S&P 500 jumped up 1.6% yesterday.  That means the index is now up 1.3% for the month, so we can all forget about that little mini-panic about a week ago, when the headlines did their best to make it sound like the country was about to plunge into a recession.  Stay focused on the long-term picture, friends.  There are too many people who have a vested interest in trying to scare you into making bad decisions for their short-term gain.

The Boston Red Sox lost 5-1 to the Baltimore Orioles last night.  Boston starter Nick Pivetta gave up three runs in five innings after skipping his last scheduled outing to get some rest.  The Red Sox offense didn't do much of anything to help.  They had seven hits, but the batters also struck out 10 times.  It's hard to win when you fail to make contact with the ball so often.  The Sox have had one of the best lineups in baseball since the All Star break, but they occasionally go on these cold streaks, and they can't afford for that to continue.

The Red Sox are currently 2.5 games back in the race for the final AL Wild Card spot.  They'll hope to turn things around when Cooper Criswell takes the mound against the Orioles tonight.

We suggested it yesterday, and now it appears the Boston Red Sox are signing pitcher Rich Hill for his fourth stint with the team.  The 44-year-old lefty has been out of action this year so he could stay home and watch his son play travel baseball.  Now it's time to get to work.  The linked article says this is a minor league deal.  However, we assume the Sox will have Hill back in the majors as soon as he's ready to fill that veteran slot the team wanted James Paxton to fill before he got hurt.

In better sports news, while the New England Patriots lost 14-13 to the Philadelphia Eagles last night, Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye gave fans plenty to feel good about in his second NFL appearance.  We don't expect Maye to start the regular season, and maybe we won't even see much of him until the second half of the schedule.  That's okay.  He showed last night that while he's a work in progress, he belongs in the league.  That's enough for right now.

New Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson is expected to make his debut with the team against the Buffalo Bills on Saturday.  Wilson has been dealing with a calf injury, which has limited his participation in the preseason so far.  However, he better get going before the other new QB in town, Justin Fields, takes his starting job away from him.  We still suspect that's going to happen around the middle of the season anyway, but hopefully Wilson can at least last a few weeks.

ESPN reportedly fired NFL analyst Robert Griffin III and host Sam Ponder yesterday as part of their annual cost-cutting moves.

Nicolas Cage is apparently set to start as NFL Hall of Fame coach/broadcaster John Madden in director David O'Russell's upcoming movie, Madden, which is not about the man, but the legendary video game.  We probably would have come up with about a 100 names of other actors besides Cage to play Madden, but we'll give this film a look whenever it eventually makes its way to Amazon Prime Video. 

Five people were arrested yesterday in connection with former Friends star Matthew Perry's death last October.  Apparently, these individuals, including two doctors and Perry's live-in assistant, worked together to sell him Ketamine and keep him hooked until his passing.  As the linked article points out, these people knew what they were doing was unethical and wrong, but they didn't care, as long as they could keep the actor paying for more of the drug.  It's a sad and outrageous story.  All of these people deserve long prison sentences.

It's good to hear that four people were finally arrested yesterday for the murder of former General Hospital actor Johnny Wactor.  The men were allegedly in the process of stealing the catalytic converter from Wactor's car this past May, and they shot and killed him when he confronted them.  He was only 37 years old.  Hopefully these arrests will start to provide some sense of closure for Wactor's loved ones.

We're sorry to hear that former Great White singer Jack White died yesterday after battling Lewy Body Dementia and Multiple System Atrophy.  White was 63 years old.  Our condolences go out to his family and friends.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Here's Jack Russell with Great White to close things out with, "Rock Me" 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.