Hi everyone,

How are you?  Our crew is doing pretty well.  I actually had a good trip to the dentist this week.  Anything is possible in a world where that can happen.  What's on tap for the weekend?  Not sure if we have anything too crazy on the to-do list.  BDH and Little Buddha say the weather should be nice, so we'll probably just focus on being outside as much as possible.

Are you ready to check out the headlines?  Let's do it.  The guys made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Saturday Clutter. 

Why does Donald Trump keep cancelling interviews with mainstream networks?  Is it cowardice, exhaustion, or both?  Either way, if the candidate can't handle the campaign, he certainly won't be able to keep up with the demands of the job.  The 78-year-old Trump has been deteriorating in real-time for the world to see.  At what point did the GOP abandon basic coherency as a requirement for their leaders? 

Donald Trump is a mess.  (pic via www.yahoo.com)

Maybe Donald Trump would rather we focus on his worsening mental state than the fact that his January 6 trial is back in the news again.  Fortunately, we have the space for both topics.  U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan only allowed a heavily redacted appendix from special counsel Jack Smith to be made public yesterday.  Even so, Trump is beside himself that Smith wouldn't cave to the U.S. Supreme Court's insane presidential immunity ruling and just go away.  How dare he think Trump should be held accountable for trying to kill our democracy?

So to review, the Republican presidential nominee has increasingly little idea where he is, and he won't stop pushing violent and hateful rhetoric, because he wants his followers to stage a second coup attempt if he loses again in November.  What are we doing here?  Lock this national security threat up and leave him there for the rest of his days.

Former President Jimmy Carter's family recently said his goal was to live long enough to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, and apparently he did just that by mail on Wednesday.

So Israel killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.  Does that mean the war is over now?  Will the murder of thousands of innocent people on both sides stop?  Does this simply create a leadership vacuum which will eventually be filled by someone else, like usual?  Is it a moot point, since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is invested in engaging in as much military conflict as possible to distract from his corruption trial?  Now that Sinwar is gone, what will be Netanyahu's excuse to avoid calling for a cease-fire? So many questions, and most of them probably don't have great answers.

The S&P 500 closed at a new all-time high yesterday.  There are a variety of thoughts about why stocks are surging during an election year, since that's atypical.  The Clutter investment team thinks the biggest influence is the optimism about future interest rate cuts in 2025.  Our staff agrees with those who argue that the market is somewhere around 3%-5% overvalued right now.  Stocks don't seem cheap, but this doesn't feel like a bubble either, and we've seen a few of those.  It looks like the Federal Reserve might just achieve its "soft landing" goal after all, and that would be remarkable.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center's annual winter outlook report is predicting another warmer-than-usual stretch in the northeast.  We won't lie - we understand that it's problematic when it's not as cold as it should be around here at the end of the year/start of next year.  It's also actually even better for the garden to have a solid snow pack for a few months.  However, we also just can't get that angry about hearing we might not have "that" much shoveling to do in the months ahead.

It's the battle of 1-5 teams when the New England Patriots play the Jacksonville Jaguars in London on Sunday morning.  We said we probably wouldn't predict any Patriots wins for the rest of this season.  That made sense when we wrote it.  However given that rookie Drake Maye was able to put up 21 points last week against the Houston Texans' #3-ranked defense, how can we not like New England's chances against Jacksonville's defense which is almost at the bottom of the league?  (#31)  Now, Jacksonville's offense is ranked 18th in the NFL, so New England's defense will have to show up this week.  However, if they do, we're cautiously optimistic that the Pats will secure their second win of the season.

(If that happens, we'll also predict Jaguars coach Doug Pedersen is fired before his team returns to the United States.)

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had himself a little temper tantrum earlier this week when he got some less-than-completely fawning questions from a local sports talk radio host.  Jones basically threatened to have the guy fired for daring to ask why the team didn't make more moves in the off-season.  Billionaires get upset when you don't kiss their feet, friends.  Accountability is for the little people, not these titans of industry.

The Cleveland Browns are moving again:  After returning to the city in 1999, the team has informed Cleveland officials that it intends to head to a new location in the suburb of Brook Park.  Given the abysmal state of the 1-5 Browns, and the hard feelings that flared up the last time they left Cleveland, this development seems likely to ignite a new round of ill will from fans.  We won't be surprised if things get really ugly at the current location for the rest of this season.  It also seems to violate some rule of football that the Browns would now have a domed stadium. 

Just double-checking:  Does anyone want to go in on a Boston Celtics ownership bid with us?  Honestly, we're more inclined to hold out for the Red Sox, but shoot us an email if you  want to team up with BDH and Little Buddha. 

We knew that The Bear star Jeremy Allen White had been cast to play Bruce Springsteen in the singer's upcoming biopic, Deliver Me From Nowhere.  Now it's been announced that Johnny Cannizzaro will play Springsteen's longtime sideman Steven Van Zandt.  We're not familiar with Cannizzaro. Does anyone have a sense of whether or not this is a good casting call?

Dave Bautista made it clear once again that he has no use for Donald Trump.  The former wrestler-turned actor mocked Trump for once being laughed out of the United Nations and also asked, "What's more American than Taylor Swift?"  We're hard-pressed to come up with an answer, Mr. Bautista. We'd love to watch a MAGA cult member try to explain to his face why he's wrong about their almighty leader.

We loved BuzzFeed.com's list of Easter eggs in this week's episode of Agatha All Along.  We caught a few of them at the time, but writer Nora Dominick also points out a number of items were beyond our casual understanding of the MCU, and that just makes the show even more entertaining.

The Abbott Elementary / It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia cross-over is really happening, and now we have a full cast picture to prove it.  This should be a blast.

We almost wish we hadn't read this article so we could avoid the spoiler, but next week's episode of NCIS: Origins features another memorable Gibbs "first."  The new series already aired the first time Gibbs had bourbon, and him being told to "grab your gear," so two hallmark moments down so far, and about another 100 to go.

Talk to us, General Hospital fans - what is going on with this insane Holly/Sasha storyline?  Having Holly be Sasha's mom feels like it an idea the writers just came up with last week.  Then, the fact that they've made Robert Sasha's dad, which means she and Cody are kissing cousins?  That's just gross.  Best-case scenario is that there's another twist or two coming, so this isn't how it appears.  Even if that's the case though, this whole thing is already a misfire.  If for some reason, the soap opera plans to stick with this as a legit plot development, then it's clear the show needs yet another new writing staff. 

We caught the first episode of the second season of The Devil's Hour on Amazon Prime on Friday.  No spoilers here, except to say that former Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi plays another character who has a weird relationship with time.  The first season had a terrific twist, and we were pleased to see the series was renewed.  Gotta admit, we spent a good portion of this episode somewhat confused, but then it all became clear what was happening by the end, and we're hooked again.  Capaldi says in the linked article that the third and final season has already been filmed, and we'll be there for that as well.

Linkin Park will reportedly release another new single next Thursday, so we'll be sure to put that on the schedule.  Their first album with new singer Emily Armstrong is due out on November 15.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Here are Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to close things out with the previously-unreleased track, "Never Be You" 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 weekend, 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.