Hi everyone,

Welcome back, and a happy Friday to you all.  What's the plan for the weekend?  I know BDH and Little Buddha have a couple of errands lined up for me.  However, we should also have some reading time on the schedule, because I found a new book for them, courtesy of our local library.  It's by the same author who wrote the last two books they just enjoyed a couple of weeks ago.  I don't want to finish that trilogy just yet, so we're going to check out a completely different story, which should be fun.

However, the first thing on the to-do list is sort through all of the headlines with you.  The guys made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some 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!

If you would like to support us, we'd be thrilled if you'd consider buying us a cup of coffee here!

She understood the assignment:  Vice President Kamala Harris nailed her acceptance speech on the final night of the Democratic National Convention.  She told her life story, as she celebrated the diversity of this country.   Vice President Harris then made her argument for a more positive vision for the United States - one that offers opportunity to everyone, instead of catering to the whims of a wannabe dictator.  Finally, she systematically dismantled Donald Trump and spelled out the dangers of him returning to the White House. 

The Harris-Walz ticket is exactly the right pairing for this moment in time.  Their momentum is remarkable, but nothing can be taken for granted between now and November.  It is the responsibility of every decent American to make sure these two come out on top in the election.

A historic night.  (pic via www.pressdemocrat.com)

Donald Trump responded to Vice President Harris' speech with yet another unhinged tirade on his fake Twitter platform.  We know the man can't stop whining, but his growing incoherence is notable.  The idea of being soundly defeated by a woman of color is the stuff of nightmares for Trump, and it shows.  What are the odds he finds a new reason to bail on the September 10 debate?

Donald Trump will be able to start selling his shares of Trump Media in just about a month from now.  The Clutter investment team thinks investors should bail well before Trump gets the chance to finally cash out on this latest scam.  He's got legal bills to pay, and the man burns through money.  Of course, our crew thinks people never should have invested in this "company" in the first place, but that's a different story.

A federal judge ordered Elon Musk to release a list of the shareholders in the company which helped him buy Twitter in 2022.  There are some interesting names on there, including a Saudi prince, a venture capital firm connected to Sean Combs, and another firm connected to an intelligence contractor, among others.

Investors are waiting to hear Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell's annual speech from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later this morning.  However, at this point, the market seems to have already convinced itself again that interest rates are right around the corner.  Thus, it will really only be news if Powell clearly indicates otherwise.

Instagram is now letting users add a 30-second music clip to their profiles.  Our first choice for this new feature?  "Another Celebration at the End of the World" by Mammoth WVH, thank you very much.

The FDA approved new COVID vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna yesterday.  The boosters are expected to start being available in the next few days.  We'll have to sit down with a calendar, but our current assumption is that we'll schedule an appointment for this, and a flu shot, in about a month.  As the weather gets colder, we'll be spending more time inside with other people, and we want to do what we can to help keep all of us safe. 

The Boston Globe has a nice little profile on Boston Red Sox right fielder Wilyer Abreu.  The 25-year-old always plays hard, is a good hitter on the rise, and he's solid in the field.  It was irritating when the Sox traded catcher Christian Vazquez to the Houston Astros in 2022, but it turns out that the team got a good return on that deal.  Here's hoping Abreu is around for a while.

We're glad to see the Cincinnati Reds signed former Red Sox first baseman Dominic Smith yesterday.  Smith did a solid job filling in for the injured Triston Casas for a good portion of this season.  We imagine he'd still be here if either he or Casas was a right-handed batter.  Smith's teammates seemed to love him, and you've got to respect a position player who had a 0.00 ERA in multiple emergency relief appearances this year.  We wish him the best of luck.

The Seattle Mariners fired manager Scott Servais yesterday, as the team's slide over the last two months has dropped them from having a 10-game lead in the AL West, to being three games behind the Houston Astros.  Dan Wilson will be the manager for the rest of the year.  Firing a manager is never fun, but shame on the Mariners for allowing Servais to learn about the decision via a breaking news alert on TV, rather than from general manager Jerry Dipoto.  That speaks to a larger organizational failure that should concern Mariners fans.

ESPN's latest NFL Power Rankings place the New England Patriots at #30 of 32 teams.  That's about what we expected, since the Patriots are starting a major rebuild, but hey, there's nowhere to go but up from here.  Our early sense is that the team made the right call in drafting quarterback Drake Maye.  It doesn't matter when he becomes the starter.  The team has covered the single most important position on the field.  Now they build from there.

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers isn't going to play against the New York Giants tomorrow.  The Jets will be lucky if the 40-year-old Rodgers makes it through the entire season after tearing his Achilles last year.  They're not going to waste his snaps on a meaningless preseason game.  The caution won't help their playoff chances, though.  The Jets always find a way to disappoint.

It seems safe to say that critics don't like the remake of The Crow at all.  Like, they hate it with a, "set this film on fire and walk away" sort of attitude.  Looks like we'll be taking a pass on this one.  That's fine, the original movie's soundtrack has a special place in our heart which would already have us leaning against this version.  Here's the match - have it at.

We're a little more disappointed that Zoë Kravitz's Blink Twice is getting almost as bad of a reaction.  This seemed like something that might be a good option on Amazon Prime Video or something on a rainy day.  However, after reading this Boston Globe review, that might have been overly optimistic.

The Hollywood Reporter has a really fun interview with Martin Short.  That should help us pass the time until the new season of Only Murders in the Building starts on Hulu on August 27.  The actor gives away one line from Season 4 in this interview, and it made us laugh, so we're already feeling good about the new mystery.

Hey General Hospital fans - one of the show's returning characters makes their first on-screen appearance today.  No spoilers here, but it will be fun to see this person again.  Now we just need to find out what they're doing here.  (Actually, we have a guess, but we can discuss that next week.)

Hold on, we almost forgot to mention that another longtime character returned to Port Charles yesterday.  You know that Ric Lansing's arrival means another right with Sonny Corinthos is right around the corner.

This week's guest on Hot Ones is...Donald Duck?  The animated character isn't really going to eat spicy chicken wings, is he?  That's a little disturbing.  Surely they're going to be some kind of vegetarian alternative.  In any case, we look forward to watching host Sean Evans do his usual deep dive into his guest's background this week.  What kind of random trivia has he learned about the iconic duck?

We admittedly fell for the online rumor that Beyoncé  would appear at the Democratic National Convention last night.  It proved to be false, and her management says it was never on the singer's schedule.  That was a little disappointing, but slotting another song into the evening would have kept us up past our bedtime even more, so no hard feelings.

AC/DC's classic Back in Black is now the third biggest-selling album in U.S. history, with 27 million copies shipped.  That seems pretty good, yes?  Can you guess which two records are ahead of it?  Hint:  The answers probably won't surprise you.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Here's blink-182 to close things out with, "No Fun" 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.