Hi everyone,

Welcome back, and a happy Friday to you all!  Any big plans?  We're always a little confused about what to do during the handful of weekends each year when there's no football or baseball to watch.  Well, I'm confused.  BDH and Little Buddha just got a new book this week, so maybe I'll hang out with them while they read.  In the meantime, they just made some coffee, so help yourself to a nice medium DD, and let's clear out some Clutter.

The Supreme Court temporarily blocked a Louisiana anti-abortion law by a 5-4 vote. As we suspected here a little while ago, Chief Justice John Roberts ended up voting with the majority.  No reason was given for the decision.  However, as we've said before, Roberts knows that after Mitch McConnell stole a seat, Donald Trump appointed someone accused of sexual assault, and Clarence Thomas' wife recently lobbied Trump, the legitimacy of his court is under attack, and he needs to take steps to protect it. 

We're not saying Roberts will suddenly become a liberal justice, but he may end up evolving into the next conservative swing vote, following in the steps of Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O'Connor.  Conservatives will have a meltdown if that happens.  Also, Brett Kavanaugh wrote the dissenting opinion, indicating that either Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) was a sucker when she said during Kavanaugh's confirmation process that she didn't believe he was a threat to Roe v. Wade, or she lied herself.  Either way, Maine voters can and will do better when Collins comes up for re-election next year.

Republican misdeeds may force Chief Justice Roberts to become more of a swing vote.  (pic via msnbc.com)

We're sorry to hear that former Representative John Dingell (D-Michigan) died yesterday after battling prostate cancer.  Dingel was a member of the House of Representatives from 1955-2014.  He had a storied career and sponsored/advocated for important laws like the Civil Rights Act of 1957, Medicare, the Endangered Species Act, and the Affordable Care Act, among others.  Our condolences go out to his family and friends.  Representative Dingel was 92 years old.

Jeff Bezos publicly called out the National Enquirer's publisher for allegedly trying to extort him.   The Washington Post publisher made the revelation in a blog post describing the whole situation, with emails included.  Good for him, because we're betting the Enquirer wasn't expecting that response.  Bezos said AMI officials were trying to force Bezos and the Washington Post to publish a lie regarding alleged financial benefits the company has received from Donald Trump for helping to kill stories about Trump's various affairs during the 2016 presidential campaign.  The Inquirer publisher indicated that they would release private photos of Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez if he refused.  Imagine that, the Inquirer is shady.  They're clearly still doing Trump's dirty work for him, so we expect the Great Pumpkin to launch another Twitter rant against Bezos any time now.

It's hard to find anything that the country can agree on these days, but a new poll says almost everybody thinks the Mueller report should be made public.

The NBA trade deadline came and went yesterday, and Anthony Davis is still with the New Orleans Pelicans. That's terrific news for Boston sports radio talk show hosts who can now devote endless hours to speculating about what it would take to bring Davis to the Boston Celtics in July and what that means for the team until then.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia 76ers traded Markelle Fultz to the Orlando Magic for Jonathon Simmons and two draft picks.  Fultz, the #1 pick in the 2017 draft, was a disaster in Philadelphia and is now rehabbing from a diagnosis of thoracic outlet syndrome.  Maybe the change of scenery, along with the rehab, will help him get his career back on track.

Baseball lost a legend with the news that Hall of Fame slugger Frank Robinson died yesterday. Robinson had an amazing career.  He was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1956, a 12-time All Star, a Triple Crown winner in 1966, and he finished with 586 career home runs.  He was also the first player to win the MVP award in both leagues as well as the first African American manager in the majors.  That's one hell of a legacy.  Our thoughts go out to his family and friends.

We don't want to get into too much detail, in case there are any Supernatural fans here who missed the show, but last night's 300th episode was tremendous. The long-awaited return of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as John Winchester was everything we could have hoped for here.  His scenes with Dean, Sam, and Mary Winchester were moving and deeply satisfying.  Dean and Sam both got a chance for closure with their dad that was about 12 years in the making, and Mary got to say hello before having to say goodbye to her husbamd once again.  We've said too much.  Click on the link, watch the episode, and appreciate the fact that this crew is still able to tell entertaining stories after all this time.

It's nice to hear that Kristoff St. John will be given a storyline in April as a final tribute to his character on The Young and the Restless.  The actor, who died last Sunday, had been on the soap opera since 1991, and he deserves a proper goodbye.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Here's Van Morrison to close things out with, "Days Like This," for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always.  BDH and Little Buddha say you're welcome to come back later if you also want to hear them read for a little while.  They do love an audience.  Otherwise, enjoy the rest of your day, be good, and we'll catch up with you again for more headlines and coffee soon.  Until next time, that's today's Clearing out the Clutter, and we are outta here.