Hi everyone,

Welcome back, and a happy Monday to you all.  How was your weekend?  Ours was fine.  BDH and Little Buddha just said they're going to ease me into the new week with a moderate to-do list.  I've got no problem with that, unless it means they're expecting the rest of them to jam-packed or something.  Hmm...

Anyway, let's get started.  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.

Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) said the House Ethics Committee report on Matt Gaetz should be released to the U.S. Senate as the chamber considers Gaetz's nomination as attorney general.  However, Senator Mullin wouldn't say if the report should be made public. In other words, this is an empty gesture designed to make it look like Senate Republicans are standing up to Donald Trump.  However, they don't want voters to know what they will condone when they eventually vote to confirm Gaetz, a man accused of sex trafficking and illicit drug use. 

A political party with a shred of decency would never tolerate someone like Gaetz even being nominated as the nation's top law enforcement officer in the first place.  Instead, the GOP's moral rot continues to expand, and the nation will suffer for it.  Someone needs to leak the report so we all know what exactly is in it, besides a woman testifying before the committee that she saw Gaetz have sex with a minor at a party in 2017.  Republicans are about to hold all of the levers of power for at least the next two years.  Disclosure of their corruption will be critical if our democracy is to have any chance of survival.

Make the report public.  (pic via www.cnn.com)

Meanwhile, Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, paid a woman a confidential settlement to not sue him over an alleged sexual assault that took place in 2017.  Will there be anyone in the new administration who isn't a predator?

This week's Saturday Night Live cold open mocked Donald Trump's atrocious Cabinet choices so far, and it also raised an important question:  Does Matt Gaetz more closely resemble a real-life version of Butt-Head or Quagmire from Family Guy?

FYI - as of right now, Donald Trump again received less than half of the popular vote in this year's election.  Keep that in mind as the MAGA cult tries to gaslight everyone into thinking they have a mandate for their extremist agenda.

President Biden has reportedly reversed his position and authorized Ukraine to use long-range ATACMS missiles against Russia.  Biden knows Donald Trump and his allies are chomping at the bit to finally end U.S. support for Ukraine as soon as possible.  Thus, the administration is moving forward with one last push against Vladimir Putin before the White House is once again occupied by a Russian asset.

Wall Street celebrated in the days immediately after the election, but now it looks like investors are starting to realize that Donald Trump's return might not be great for stocks.

We gave up fast food years ago, and while these pictures of 10 unhealthy fast food breakfast sandwiches are making us hungry, we won't be breaking our streak to inflict this much damage on our health.

The New England Patriots lost 28-22 to the Los Angeles Rams yesterday to fall to 3-8 on the season.  We thought the Pats might have a chance to upset the Rams, and the opportunities were there, but they couldn't capitalize.  It also didn't help that the once-vaunted Patriots defense gave up 402 total yards to Matthew Stafford and company.  Did they forget who was opposing them?  That's usually not a recipe for success.

On the flip side,while the loss is disappointing, the good news is that New England's rookie quarterback Drake Maye continues to impress and generate optimism about the future.  Maye went 30-for-40 for 282 yards, two touchdowns, and one (game-ending) interception.  A rookie with a 75% completion rate on 40 attempts? Hell yes, we're excited to see him continue to develop. We also look forward to the day when he has more options than tight end Hunter Henry and a bunch of guys.  Give Maye some real wide receivers, and New England's fortunes could rapidly improve.

One more note:  It was terrific to see New England Patriots defensive tackle Christian Barmore back on the field yesterday for the first time since he was diagnosed with blood clots in July.  We thought he'd likely be out for the year, and while it will likely take him some time to work into real football shape, Barmore's presence is an immediate upgrade for New England's defense.

Next up:  The Patriots face the Miami Dolphins on the road next Sunday. 

Warner Bros. Discovery reached a settlement with the NBA in their legal battle over the network's rights package for the league.  It's a complicated agreement, so click on the link for all of the details.  However, the biggest aspect is that "Inside the NBA" will in fact continue, albeit on a new home at ESPN and ABC, starting next season.  Even if you're not a hardcore basketball fan, watching Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson is pretty entertaining, so we're glad the show lives to fight another day.

Jake Paul beat Mike Tyson by decision in their over-hyped "fight" this past Friday.  Tyson is 58-years-old, and he hasn't had a competitive boxing match in 19 years.  He was the winner for not dying in the middle of the ring.  We'll be more emotionally invested in whoever wins next year's WrestleMania main event.  Neither man accomplished anything here (again, besides Tyson just staying alive,) but they both got paid, and that's likely all they care about.  In the end, it turns out that ring girl Sydney Thomas is probably what most people will remember best about this whole sad spectacle.

Dwayne Johnson's silly-looking new Christmas movie cost $250 million to make, and it pulled in just over $34 million at in its box office debut.  That's still good enough to be #1 in the U.S., which tells you something about the state of movie theaters at this point.  We'll take a pass on Red One when it finally makes it to streaming (which is where it was originally supposed to live anyway.)  It's getting to the point now that Johnson's presence in a project leans more towards being a negative than a boost, whether that's movies or pro wrestling.

We'd be more likely to watch Ben Stiller in Nutcrackers, where he plays the uncle of four kids who live on a farm and just lost their parents.  You can probably guess every step of this movie just by watching the trailer, but it still looks better than Red One:

Conan O'Brien has been named as the host for next year's Academy Awards.  He'll replace Jimmy Kimmel,who was in that role for the last two years.  Does the host have any impact on your decision whether or not to watch the show?  We're confident O'Brien will handle the duties well, but he doesn't move the needle either way for us. 

Wow, this past Saturday marked the 20th anniversary of the premiere of House, one of our all-time favorite TV shows.  Hugh Laurie was the perfect actor for the role, and we were spellbound by Dr. Gregory House.  EW.com has a fun Q&A with show creator David Shore to celebrate the occasion. 

Quinta Brunson revealed a couple of details about the upcoming Abbott Elementary/It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia cross-over:   The Abbott version of what transpires between the two casts will air in January, and Brunson believes the Always Sunny take will come out in June.  Still nothing about the actual plot yet, but that's okay.  The idea of these two casts interacting in any context is funny, and we're sure both shows will find entertaining ways to present their versions of the story.

Some great news for Betty White fans:  The much-beloved late actress will be featured on a 2025 Forever Stamp, according to the USPS.  No release date has been announced yet, but we can already think of several friends who will likely rush to the local post office to stock up once it's available.

We haven't heard much about supermodel Kate Upton in a while, but now Upton has people talking about a cryptic Instagram story regarding a "drunk and high" dad traveling with his daughter and threatening to shoot their taxi cab driver.  One immediately wonders if she's talking about her husband, although the ages of their daughter and the one in the story don't match.  If it's him, this seems like a cry for help.  If it's not, and Upton actually witnessed such a situation, you're telling us she doesn't know to call the authorities?  If she made it up, she might be the one who needs assistance.

Jason Bonham announced he won't be returning to Sammy Hagar's group The Circle, and it doesn't sound like it was the drummer's call.  Bonham made the revelation on an Instagram post, saying Hagar has decided to move forward with Kenny Aronoff, who filled in for Bonham for the last few shows of this year's "Best of All Worlds Tour."  It sounds like there's a story there, and we'd like to hear it at some point.  We love the Hagar era of Van Halen, but it's easy to believe the singer is hard to deal with, so it's too bad if he did wrong by Bonham.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Here are Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers to close things out with another previously-unreleased track called, "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 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.