Hi everyone,

How are you?  I made progress catching up on this week's errands yesterday, but there's still some backlog to deal with today.  No luck at the bookstore, but BDH and Little Buddha have already moved on to what might arrive next week.  They're two little optimism machines, although I think they might also be a bit distracted by the Halloween candy bags I just bought.  We try to keep it under control, but our crew has a sweet tooth.  Hopefully enough kids will stop by tomorrow to make sure we don't have a lot of sweets left over on Friday.

Anyway, let's take a peek at the headlines.  The guys made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Wednesday Clutter.

Vice President Kamala Harris made her closing argument to voters at a rally on Washington's Ellipse last night.  That was the site where Donald Trump unleashed the violent mob on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, and it emphasized the clear choice in this race:  We can return a man who hates the United States and has made it clear he intends to be a dictator, to the White House, or we can protect our democracy.  We can choose a man who has nothing to offer except grievances, racism, and misogyny, or we can choose a candidate who wants to maximize the opportunities this country can offer.  We can go backwards, or we can go forward.  Let's move forward, friends.

Vice President Harris is the right choice for the future.  (pic via tennesseelookout.com)

Meanwhile, Donald Trump claims his Madison Square Garden hate rally was "a love fest," while he continues to be blasted for the disgusting anti-Latino/Puerto Rico comments that were made at the event.  Of course Trump claimed to know nothing about comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, because that's his default response to everyone who ever causes him embarrassment.  It's time to send this deteriorating criminal away once and for all.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s desperate attempt to have his name removed from the ballots in the swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin, now that he's endorsed Donald Trump.  You know you're in the wilderness when even this court won't help you try to assist Trump.   Kennedy made this appeal far too late since voting has already begun in both states.  Karma would have the last laugh if Kennedy's conspiracy theory-supporting followers were just big enough to cost Donald Trump these two states and the presidency.  Trying this Hail Mary at the last minute shows Kennedy knows that's a real possibility.

Two longtime prominent New Hampshire Republicans endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris yesterday:   It's hard to imagine that Tom Rath and former U.S. Senator Gordon Humphrey agree with Kamala Harris about much, but both men understand that Donald Trump can't be allowed to return to the White House.

USA Today is the latest newspaper to refuse to make an endorsement in the presidential election.  We'll see if this cowardly move has anything resembling the same impact as the now over 250,000 Washington Post readers who cancelled their subscriptions after owner Jeff Bezos blocked a Kamala Harris endorsement.  Donald Trump is a sworn enemy of the freedom of the press.  Newspapers who stay silent in this race are abdicating their responsibility to fight for the 1st Amendment.

The federal judge who blocked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' administration from threatening TV stations that run ads for a proposed pro-abortion rights state constitutional amendment has extended that order through November 12.  Governor DeSantis has no problem trashing the 1st Amendment to try to harm women and soothe his bruised ego.  Good for U.S. District Judge Mark Walker for blocking that nonsense.

The man who violently attacked Paul Pelosi in 2022 was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.  David DePape was already serving a 30-year sentence on federal charges connected to this incident, and now we have the punishment on the state charges to add to it.

The U.S. Commerce Department is expected to announce today that the economy continues to do well, despite Donald Trump's ongoing claims that either it's in shambles, or will be any day now, depending on what lie floats into his head at that particular moment.

Elon Musk has done such a terrible job with Twitter, that even Donald Trump's wannabe-social media site is said to be worth more at this point.  Any self-respecting businessman would be embarrassed to come up short in that comparison.

McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski wants you to know the fast food giant is really sorry about that whole E. coli business.  Add to that the fact that McDonald's has jacked up its prices beyond the rate of inflation, so you can see why customers might not be as excited about visiting their stores these days.  We bailed on these guys and their competitors about 35 years ago, and we encourage others to do the same. 

Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow says he now has the front office team he needs to make the club contenders next year and beyond.  No more excuses then, let's see an actual commitment to winning now, and not more empty rhetoric about brighter days ahead.  Spend the money and get both a legit #1 starter and a right-handed power hitter this off-season. 

The New York Yankees held off the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-4 in Game 4 of the World Series last night, so unfortunately there will be no sweep.  Instead, we got to watch a Yankees fan basically assault Mookie Betts as he pulled a ball out of the right fielder's glove during the game.  Classy.  The Yankees hitter, Geyber Torres, was immediately called out for fan interference, and the fan was ejected from the game.  He shouldn't be allowed at any MLB park after this ridiculous behavior.

The Chicago White Sox will reportedly hire Will Venable to be their next manager.  The good news for the former Red Sox bench coach is that the bar for success in 2025 couldn't be much lower, given that the team went 41-121 this season.  As long as the White Sox don't set another new record for most losses in a year, Venable can argue he's moving things in the right direction.  Best of luck to him.

The disappointing New York Jets are 2-6, and given that they have a short turn-around this week with a Thursday game against the Houston Texans, there's a good chance they will fall to 2-7.  Is it time to start talking about possible Aaron Rodgers trades?  Jets ownership should be thinking about it, particularly if they can trick someone into giving them a real haul for the 40-year-old quarterback.

Disgraced former WWE owner Vince McMahon is reportedly starting a new entertainment company in Los Angeles to create film and television projects that aren't wrestling-related.  The 79-year-old McMahon is currently being sued for sexual assault and sex trafficking of a former employee, as well as for negligence for doing nothing when a former ring announcer was sexually abusing young boys.  We look forward to not watching any of this new venture's productions.  Given McMahon's terrible record with non-wrestling ideas, the odds are good we won't be missing anything.

We considered trying to put it off for a bit, but we ended up watching the Only Murders in the Building season finale last night.  Overall, the latest actual murder mystery never really grabbed us that much, but we loved pretty much every relationship that was on display.  At this point, we'd watch Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez do anything together, but Jane Lynch and the Westies also won us over time, so we're sorry to see that all come to an end. 

However, the show continues.  Click on the above link to read Variety's interview with showrunner John Hoffman to get his thoughts on what happened this season, and where the series goes next.  (Also, welcome, Téa Leoni!)

Wait, Agatha All Along has its season finale tonight?  Argh, we lost track of the schedule.  Of course it makes sense to wrap things up right before Halloween.  There are two episodes left, and a lot of ground to cover, so here's hoping this adventure concludes on an interesting note.

This week's NCIS: Origins episode was strong.  Viewers got to see a critical moment in Gibbs' life, and we're already starting to witness the evolution of his character, as he begins rebuilding his life during his early days at NIS.  There's a family in the making on this show, and we're here for it.  (We also continue to believe that Mike Franks is the real star of the series so far, and that's just fine with us.)

It's a little hard to do this without spoilers, but we're now feeling a little suspicious about this week's temporary General Hospital casting change.  This character was involved in a major reveal yesterday, but the impact was diluted because it was a different face hearing the big news.  The soap opera had been building to this moment for months, and one of the primary players suddenly has "a scheduling conflict" and can't be there for the payoff?  Something feels off here.

This new Paramount+ documentary about boy bands looks fun.  We'll have to see if it comes to another streaming service at some point:

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Here's Lady Gaga to close things out with her new tune, "Disease" 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, make your plan to vote, 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.