Hi everyone,

Welcome back, and a happy Friday to you all!  What's on the schedule for the weekend?  I don't think we've got anything major planned here at the moment.  It might be a good time to catch up on some Netflix.  We were just talking about how nice it is that the sunrises are noticeably earlier these days.  I think we can turn off the lights about 30 minutes earlier in the morning than we used to, which is terrific.  BDH and Little Buddha decided they wanted to celebrate this fact with some coffee.  They just made a fresh pot, so help yourself to a nice medium DD, and let's clear out some Clutter.

As the rumors swirl that his investigation is almost over, Robert Mueller may tell much of his story via the sentencing memorandum for Paul Manafort which is due to be filed with the court today.  That might allow the country to understand what Mueller has discovered, even if the Trump administration refuses to make his final report public. 

Donald Trump has nothing to say about Christopher Paul Hasson, the white nationalist Coast Guard officer arrested for a mountain of illegal weapons and a reported plan for a major domestic terrorist incident.  After all, the last thing Trump wants to do these days is anger his base.

Trump crony Roger Stone is now prohibited from publicly talking about his trial after posting an Instagram picture of Judge Amy Berman Jackson's face next to the crosshairs of a gun.  Judge Jackson said that violating the order would lead to his incarceration.  Stone should already be in jail for making the threat in the first place, but given what a hard time he has keeping his mouth shut, he may end up there soon enough anyway.

Apple is reportedly launching a credit card later this year. Apparently the card will be integrated with a user's iPhone for a variety of services.  Umm, no thanks.  While Apple may not be, say, Facebook, when it comes to privacy, we don't need our phone to know our financial information. 

Speaking of financial information, Warren Buffett will release his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders tomorrow. As always, we encourage anyone with an interest in investing to set aside some time to read the letter on the company's website, even if you don't own any shares.  In addition to discussing the specifics of Berkshire Hathaway's performance, Buffett always includes plenty of commentary about his thoughts on investing, and it's written in plain English.  You're getting insight into the stock market from one of the richest men in the world for free.  That's a bargain.

Warren Buffett shares his thoughts on investing.  (pic via cnbc.com)

Yesterday was a bad day for Kraft Heinz, as the company posted a $12.6 billion loss, cut its dividend by more than a third, and announced it's being investigated by the SEC.  Yeah, that's not good.  The stock is up almost 12% for the year, but we'll go out on a limb and predict that's probably not going to hold up by the end of the day.  This is the kind of situation that keeps the Clutter investment team away from individual stocks as a general rule.  However, they'll still be interested in watching how badly the stock gets pummeled, because unless you think Kraft Heinz will never recover from this news, there's a good chance the likely upcoming sell-off will be a buying opportunity over the long-term.  As always, that's just speculation. 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb says the federal government may have to take action if states don't fix their weak anti-vaccination laws. Gottlieb didn't give specifics, but we support action by the FDA if that's what it takes to block the spread of these health crises which can and should be avoided.  Anti-vaxxers are public health threats, and their right to be stupid doesn't trump the right of everyone else be healthy.

We're saddened to hear that the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo died suddenly yesterday. The longtime Boston Red Sox beat writer collapsed at JetBlue Park because of an embolism and never recovered.  We had a disagreement once with Cafardo, but his weekly baseball notes column was a must-read.  His passing is a loss for the Red Sox community as well as his family and friends at the Globe.  Nick Cafardo was only 62 years old.

Glad to hear that New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty says he plans on coming back next year. McCourty had teased retiring if the Patriots won the Super Bowl, but it sounds like he's ready for a 10th season.  Now, if we could just confirm the status of a certain tight end...

We've already lost interest in the new Ghostbusters movie after director Jason Reitman said he would "hand the movie back to the fans," and that he's, " not making the ‘Juno’ of ‘Ghostbusters’ movies."  That's a clear swipe at the 2016 reboot which was trashed online because it (gasp) dared to feature a female cast.  Reitman tried to distance himself from the statement later on, but no thanks.  We recognize a dog whistle when we hear one.

Sorry to hear that Peter Tork died yesterday after a long battle with cancer.  He was best known for being part of the TV music group The Monkees, who had their own show for two years in the 1960's.  The Monkees took a lot of grief for not being a "real" band, as others wrote and performed the music for their songs, but Tork actually knew how to play bass and guitar.  The group may have been manufactured, but their popularity was real, and there's still a strong nostalgic air to it.   Peter Tork was 77 years old.  Our condolences go out to his family, friends, and fans.

We've got the first full trailer for Jordan Peele's Twilight Zone reboot.  Not sure what's going on here, but it features Adam Scott and Tracy Morgan, and it looks creepy, so consider our curiosity piqued:

This is Us will end after six seasons...unless it doesn't. In any case, it sounds like the producers already know how they want the story to end, which is good.  Now, we have at least three more years to see how they get there.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Here are the Monkees to close out the week with, "Daydream Believer," 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 see you back here again for more fun soon.  Until next time, that's today's Clearing out the Clutter, and we are outta here.