Hi everyone,

Welcome back!  Come on in, have a seat.  How are you?  BDH, Little Buddha, and I were just talking about the birds and wondering if they've gone for the year.  I'll have to find the guys a new hobby if that's the case.  Any suggestions?  The coffee is ready, so help yourself to a nice medium DD, and let's clear out some Thursday Clutter.

One of the jurors in Paul Manafort's trial said a single holdout was the only thing that kept Manafort from being found guilty on all 18 charges he faced.  Jury questionnaires should include a question that says, "Are you able to understand reality on a consistent basis?"

We haven't heard the last of Michael Cohen yet.  Cohen has now been subpoenaed by New York investigators who are looking into the Trump Foundation.  A reminder that Trump can't pardon anyone one that investigation, nor can he fire anyone.  We're still wondering if/how this investigation will impact Vince and Linda McMahon, who are the largest contributors to the Trump Foundation.

He needed something to distract everyone from the Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen stories, so Donald Trump sent out a tweet with a white nationalist bent regarding deaths of farmers in South Africa.  When all else fails, the Great Pumpkin will always fall back on pure racism in order to appease his base.  That's how we also get Trump accusing a recently arrested man of being in the country illegally, even when that's not the case.  You can almost hear him saying, "Don't look at my criminal acts and treason here, because there's a scary dark-skinned man over there."

Of course, when all else fails, Trump goes back to his faux-outrage over all things NFL and the national anthem like it's his binky.

Donald Trump trying to think of a new distraction as the walls close in.  (pic via springng.com)

The best that White House press secretary Sarah Sanders can say about the Manafort/Cohen stories is that Donald Trump, “did nothing wrong” and there are “no charges against him," over and over again.  It's like she's not even trying at this point. 

Marijuana stocks are on the rise.  We're wondering if there will eventually be a pot-focused mutual fund.  The number of companies involved in this industry in a variety of capacities is only going to increase from here, and we can already see the marketing materials calling it a global growth investment.

The Boston Red Sox beat up on the Cleveland Indians 10-4 last night.  The win snapped the team's three-game losing streak, and it leaves the Sox as the only team not to lose four straight games this year.  Boston starter Brian Johnson gave up three runs over 4 1/3 innings, including a two-run home run to Edwin Encarnacion on the first inning.  Johnson often seems to run into trouble in the first and then settles down after that.  In any case, Boston's offense woke up after a recent nap, led by two home runs from Xander Bogaerts and one by Mitch Moreland.  Every Red Sox batter had at least one hit.  David Price takes the mound for Boston this afternoon as the Sox try to salvage a series split with Cleveland. 

Hugh Laurie is returning to HBO!  The Clutter favorite will star in a new space comedy called, Avenue 5, and  while that genre doesn't sound like our cup of tea at all, we'll take advantage of any opportunity to watch Laurie in action.  No word on when the show will air, but we will let you know as soon as we find out.

Sorry to hear that Ben Affleck is reportedly heading back to rehab, but we wish the actor the best of luck.

Los Angeles prosecutors are looking at a new sexual assault claim against Kevin Spacey regarding an incident that allegedly occurred in 2016.

Big Bang Theory will end after its 12th season, according to producers.  We used to enjoy the show up until a few years ago.  (Any program that throws in an occasional Doctor Who reference is good with us)  Eventually it seemed like it ran out of gas, but the ratings remained strong, so the machine continued churning out new material.  One might have expected the wedding of Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler last season to be the natural conclusion of the show, but hopefully the writers will come up with a solid finish.

We saw this headline that Steven Tyler told Donald Trump to stop playing Aerosmith's music at his events.  Before clicking on the link, we tried to guess the song in question, and the first thing that came to mind for BDH and Little Buddha was, "Livin' on the Edge."  Sure enough, that's the one at issue here.

Cheers to P!nk for cheering up fan who recently lost her mother.  The singer stopped a concert to give the 14 year-old girl a hug, and it was a sweet moment.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Let's have P!nk close things out with, "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)," for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always.  Enjoy the rest of your day, be good, and we'll meet up again for more fun soon.  Until next time, that's today's Clearing out the Clutter, and we are outta here.